First Parish of Weston aids Hurricane Katrina victims

"You all are doing God’s work," Rev. Willie D. Rawls told us, and I thought to myself that we were also undoing God’s work. Rev. Rawls was speaking to about 50 volunteers from all over the country who were fed lunch every day in what used to be the Parish Hall for the First Missionary Baptist Church of Pearlington, Miss. Tod Foote, Chris Marobella and I, all members of First Parish Church in Weston, had driven down to perform Gulf Coast relief work during April vacation week.

Chris, the official leader of our team, had been given the title, "Chris, Who Knows What He Is Doing" by the Methodist and Lutheran contingent from Ankeny, Iowa.

We had gathered from New Mexico, Washington state, Iowa, Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. We were dairy farmers, electricians, ministers, social workers, marketing executives, carpenters, millionaires, cattle ranchers, homemakers, nurses, college students, high school students and people in-between jobs. We were of different faiths and different races and we were committed to leaving our ordinary lives and comfort zones behind us for an extraordinary week of hard labor and outreach.

Every morning at 4 am, chief cook Jim Baird of the Pearlington Recovery Center would set out the coffee maker, cold and hot cereal packets, and donations of fresh bagels and fruit. Jim was generous with his recipes but very territorial about his kitchen and we had to police the female volunteers who wanted to set things straight when he wasn’t there. We would wander into the army tent that served as a cafeteria, bleary-eyed or fresh as a daisy and the daily assessment would begin; who had what adventure yesterday, what part was missing and who had to make do, whose spouse was plain mean and what she’d done to his breakfast, etc.

After breakfast, we’d troop out to our respective work sites. Some of us were building houses where there were only bare foundations or rubble-strewn lots. Some of us were distributing donations of furniture, clothing, toys, tools, cookware and appliances. Some of us were driving residents to shop at Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. Others were finishing interiors, clearing refuse and debris, or organizing the Pearlington Recovery Center distribution warehouse.

There are endless chores to be done and sometimes up to 250 willing pairs of hands at a time. Last week was a quiet week with only 40 or so adult volunteers and a crew of teens from Colorado and young adults from a local college.

Laurie Spaschak, Bob Putnam and Larry Randall organize the volunteers and assign tasks. Laurie also does case management. Bob, who hails from Quincy, Mass., offered brief commentaries along with work orders; telling us who was handy, who was a little cranky and giving us advice on how to handle ourselves. We found in short order that, as we worked alongside residents, they would tell us their stories. They were unbearably matter-of-fact as they talked about clinging to trees, or watching their pets carried away, or placing their belongings on top of their upstairs beds because "beds float and we didn’t lose those things." When sometimes tears welled up, they would stop, apologize and say, "It wasn’t all that bad, you know." We moved in and out of homes and sheds with small stacks of water-damaged belongings that had been salvaged in the aftermath. They may not be usable, but that doesn’t matter. We are helping to heal this country in more ways than one.

Lunch was a substantial affair at the Community Baptist Church. Church ladies would loudly warn us that "you don’t enter until you have washed those hands." With supplies provided by Presbyterian Disaster Relief and local cooks, we had a variety of entrees, vegetables, salads and desserts – fuel for the afternoon. Rev. Rawls would offer thanks and a lively prayer. And often a member of his congregation would serenade us with a powerful gospel song. Every Wednesday evening, Pastor Rawls invited volunteers to his church for a worship service that gets the blood moving and the feet pounding.
By nightfall, we were tired and satisfied. The Methodists provided the Recovery Center with mobile shower units, miracles of modern engineering that provided light, a washbasin, and five showers with hot and cold, albeit sulfurous, running water. We’d eat well and retire to bunkhouses that could accommodate 10 to 15 and had both heat and air conditioning. The port-a-potties, however, lost their cachet by the end of the week.

Tod, Chris and I installed windows and exterior doors in one home, helped move a shed to make room for a new church, and installed a kitchen and interior doors in another home. There is something compelling about hard, efficient labor for which the only rewards are one’s sense of accomplishment and the gratitude of those who have suffered enough. We are all capable of stretching beyond our day-to-day lives to do something extraordinary for someone else, and changing our own lives forever.

Sarah Person is the youth ministry coordinator at the First Parish Church in Weston.